Introductory biology is a gateway course for majors and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Despite the importance of chemistry content knowledge for understanding biology, the relationship between chemistry knowledge and prior coursework and biology course performance is understudied. We used an opportunity…

Cooperative learning is associated with a variety of potential benefits to students, including better comprehension and retention, improved perceptions and attitudes, and increased openness to diversity. Yet, there is limited evidence or instruction on cooperative learning activities in asynchronous online classrooms, an increasingly common course…

Sense of belonging is associated with postsecondary student success outcomes and has largely been studied within face-to-face course contexts. The increasing demand for online courses after the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates identifying ways instructors can foster belonging in their online courses. This study experimentally tested the effect of…

We designed an asynchronous undergraduate introductory statistics course that focuses on simulation-based inference at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this article, we describe the process we used to design the course and the structure of the course. We also discuss feedback and comments we received from students on the course evaluations,…

There is a consistent concern for students' success in undergraduate introductory cell biology as this foundational course may impact their persistence towards earning a degree in the health sciences. Institutions need to consider the delivery method of instruction and the potential impacts on student success and enrollment. For five years, the…

Oral demonstration of knowledge is an effective learning and assessment strategy. It has been shown that generating explanations to oneself, or self-explaining, can improve student understanding of information. This can be achieved via student-generated videos. The quantitative effects of student-generated videos on learning and assessment in…

This study examines how student and instructor participation in online discussions impacts students' course performance. The context for the study is university introductory online mathematics/statistics courses, which typically have much higher failure rates than their face-to-face counterparts. Using text-mining techniques, we analyze online…

This study attempted to determine if placing videos in an asynchronous course influenced the learning experience. Data were examined for an introductory college statistics course comparing results pre and post implementation of videos in support of discussions, assignments, homework, quizzes, and exams. Frequency of external tutoring was…

In this descriptive analysis, we consider the experiences of students who prefer face-to-face (F2F) classes but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had no alternative other than taking their introductory biology class online during the 2020-2021 academic year. We conducted focus group interviews with 12 college students who enrolled in an asynchronous…

After the sudden transition to remote instruction in the spring 2020 semester due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, physics lab instructors rapidly began to prepare for hybrid and/or fully remote instruction for the fall 2020 semester. In this paper, an asynchronous introductory physics lab course structure implemented at Saint Vincent…

Background: Students face many challenges completing a postsecondary education program, including both administrative hurdles (e.g., course registration) and course management challenges (e.g., scheduling study time, finding academic support). Text-based nudging in the postsecondary context has been a particularly effective tool when targeting…

Art and design students in higher education often prioritize design skills over written communication. With the opportunity to restructure courses around increased asynchronous flexibility arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the author of this manuscript (who is also the course instructor) has developed a hybrid-blended course design in the art…

This dissertation implements self-determination theory to examine learning environments conducive to student motivation in higher education. Specifically, this work is concerned with measuring the satisfaction and frustration of students' three basic psychological needs (BPNs), the need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence (ARC). To do so,…

Restrictions on in-person teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic severely challenged higher education practices worldwide. While didactic delivery of course content is easily achievable with virtual teaching technologies, promoting critical engagement with this material can be more difficult, particularly with classes of larger size and lower…

This paper proposes a comprehensive redesign of the introductory public speaking course for 100% online and asynchronous delivery, emphasizing peer review-based assessment. Research from the post-pandemic educational age informs this approach, which aims to meet the changing demands of online education for digital native students despite the…